Uncorking A Story

When I woke up this morning, I never could have predicted that one of my elementary school teachers, a Catholic nun named Dorothy Collins, would be introducing me to a post-op transexual named Cynthia.  Let me explain. There are people in our lives who have a profound impact on us.  Sr. Dorothy was one of those people for me.  My family moved to Connecticut when I was 9 years old which meant my twin brother Jimmy and I would be starting the 1983-1984 school year in a new school.  I was entering 4th grade and I was nervous.  My nervousness turned to fear when I found out a nun would be my teacher because my prior experiences with nuns was not so good.  My first grade teacher, Sr. Peter Marie, made Joe Pesci's Tommy Devito character from Goodfellas seem like a nice guy.  Luckily for me, Sr Dorothy was nothing like I expected; she had a big smile and an even bigger heart (and she never asked if she was there to amuse me). We re-connected recently at a reunion and I asked to interview her for my podcast. She ac